My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel.
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An Arab terror state, whose raison d’être is the total destruction of Israel and the banishment of its Jewish citizens, can only be a danger to world peace. No, it's not a matter of patiently helping the Arabs through a "transition."

It's a perversely farcical oxymoron to state that there could be "secure borders" for Israel in such a set-up.I don't know why I'm wasting my time writing this. The New York Times has editorials like this every few weeks. But I can't stay silent. The very survival of my country and my personal safety are at stake.

Gila,You have been suckered by the Arab demography fraud. See http://www.think-israel.org/zimmerman.demography.html. The truth is that the Arab population is leaving, the birthrate is declining, and the religious Jewish birthrate is high and stable. For the future we can expect a Jewish state full of Torah-observant Jews. THIS is what the leftist "experts" fear most, not the Arabs. They don't fear religious Jews because they really think we would create another Houmenist Iran. That is only their propaganda. What they really fear is the loss of their control here. These Bolsheviks would rather send the state of Israel down the tubes completely, with millions of Jews dead or refugees, than to lose their power. This is perfectly consistent with what they did in the Shoah. Read the book Perfidy by Ben Hecht. see also the website http://www.hirhome.com. Stop being credulous toward propaganda. Check the facts and analyze the assumptions. Just as we do when we learn gemara, see who disagrees and why.

Gila, your numbers aren't correct, and even if they were a new state wouldn't solve our security problems. I expect everyone, Jews and Arabs to obey the laws and not murder, attack etc. Pre-1967, the Arabs were fleeing the area, because Jordan didn't provide services and there was little or no industry etc. Until the 1980's there were periodic announcements in the jpost about Israel connecting water lines and setting up electricity. All of the territory liberated in the 6 Days War should have been annexed by Israel. The population should have then been offered citizenship or the option to leave or live as non-citizens. In 1967, the world would have accepted it, and so would have the Arabs. It was Israeli wishy-washy left wing policy which brought us the terrorism and lack of security.

Shalom!Gila,1)The Arabs should go home to one of their 22 countries. Most of Arabs living in the Gaza Strip are from Egypt. Most of the Arabs living in the West Bank are from neighboring Arab countries. Israel should insist that they go back. According to Jewish law we are not allowed to give non-Jews citizenship.

2) Any country can decide what it wants on its own territory. If they want to deny anyone citizenship, that's their right. If any country sends all of its Jews home to Israel, we should thank them.Hadassa

Batya,You are a hundred percent correct! We should stop this nonsense of a two state solution and offer all the inhabitants of Israel, Gaza, Samaria, Judea and the Golan the exact same citizenship with the exact same voting rights and obligations. Let's do that right now and then this would all be over. I do however fear that the Jewish majority, if there is one, would be only by a slim margin.Equal right sfor all now!

Ethnic cleansing now! If it's good enough for the goys then it's good enough for us Jews. Let's throw all the Arabs out of the area tomorrow!\ starting with those that come to do all the dirty work in Shiloh. Oh and of course let's replace them with Filipinos, Thais and Chinese much better than Arabs after all they know their place and don't throw stones. They may even convert and so we would have more Jews.

a, I wonder who you are.Compared to many yishuvim, especially in gush etzion, Shiloh has very few Arabs in to work.There are big debates about it, not shrugged shoulders.I may be mistaken, but they're actually not allowed in.

The Arabs are leaving at the rate of about 40,000+ per year....everyone in the West Bank who can get a visa to get out, is going.

There is nothing 'racist' in having rules that apply to everyone: you can be a citizen and have a vote if you do national service or military service, and a resident and not vote if you do neither. Please note that this would apply equally to haredi and tzafoni populations alike. I would amend the law: citizens get full benefits; residents get limited benefits. East Jerusalem Arabs are largely residents, not citizens. Offering them a financial incentive (a lump sum cash payment) to turn in their UNWRA and/or ID cards and move to another country is giving them a choice, not enforcing a transfer (such as those of Turkey/Greece and India/Pakistan, both approved by the international community).

I'm growing sour on the Two-State solution only because every offer by Israel is rejected for totally untenable maximalist demands by the Palestinians (such as, Jerusalem must be Islamic, and Palestinian and Arab--no Jews allowed). The situation calls for compromise, and they aren't interested in compromise

BTW, the majority of Arabs in the area haven't been here any longer than the majority of Jews. I have a picture from around 1931 of "East Jerusalem" in what today is the Wadi Joz area. Empty fields north and east of the Old City walls. Silwan was a tiny collection of Jewish and Arab hovels.

The Palestinians keep warning us that "time is running out" for settling this issue. Yes, it is. They should hurry and take the offer on the table, because I'm fairly sure that many of us Israelis are getting fed up with this Talk-Peace-Make-War game they're playing.

Shalom!Uh... Batya...Isn't the Tora specific about which laws apply to Jews and which laws apply to non-Jews, especially when living in Israel? Non-Jews are not allowed to be citizens or own land in Israel. I can't remember whether or not they're allowed to serve in the army, but they're definitely not allowed to have a higher rank than the lowest ranking Jew. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but the Tora is not politically correct.a06, you're not basing your arguments on Jewish law, and some of your points contradict it. A two state solution is impossible because G-d gave Israel to the Jews. Period.Hadassa